Gold is relatively unchanged after 3 days of gradual losses despite the degeneration in the Eurozone crisis with the deteriorating situation in Greece and Spain increasing the risk of contagion.

The continuous short term panaceas of recent months look set create an even bigger crisis - which will benefit gold in the medium term.

Spain's banking troubles could create the next political and economic crisis in Europe. Spanish yields remain near 5 months high (10 year at 6.07%) after Madrid took over the country's 4th biggest bank Bankia in an effort to clean up its banking sector.

Greece's political turmoil threatens their solvency and risks an exit from the euro currency just months after Athens secured the latest round of 'bailouts' from international lenders.

While gold may go lower in the short term, it looks oversold. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on gold is just above 30 which shows that gold is oversold.

Demand in the west remains muted with little physical coin and bar demand and ETF positions remaining largely flat - the total gold ETF holdings are down -0.12 million ounces, month to date.

When gold experienced its 'Bernanke fall' of $80 on February 29, spec length was just above 27 million ounces. Today the gold market longs are nearly 10 million ounces lower suggesting that the worst of the sell off may be over.

The positive action of the gold miners yesterday may also be indicative of a bottom - as the XAU and HUI were up 1.72% and 1.86% respectively.

Physical demand in Asia has picked up again with UBS reporting that demand from India was "again nearly twice average daily volumes". Jewellers in India appear to be starting to rebuild inventories after the removal of the excise tax.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange launched silver futures trading earlier today. It generated a buzz and "massive interest" amongst Chinese investors according to Reuters. Prices fell in line with international markets.

The total trading volume on the eight contracts <0#SAG:> exceeded 300,000 lots. Thus, the one day old silver contract is now already the second most active contract on the Shanghai exchange after copper.

This bodes well for silver prices in the coming months and in time the silver futures market on the Shanghai exchange will likely rival that of COMEX with ramifications for the silver price.

Goldman Sees "Currency of Last Resort" Up 15 pc At $1,840/oz in 6 Months Goldman Sachs has confirmed that it remains bullish on gold and believes that gold will rally as the Euro crisis deepens and the US engages in more stimulus.

Goldman stands by its forecast for a rally in gold this year, saying that the precious metal will advance to $1,840/oz over six months as the U.S. central bank embarks on a third round of stimulus in June.

The precious metal remains the "currency of last resort," according to analysts led by Jeffrey Currie in a report released yesterday.

Goldman's gold forecast implies a 15% return in 6 months.

"In early 2009, we suggested that gold had become the currency of last resort, overtaking the U.S. dollar's status due the rising risk of sovereign default and debasement concerns," Currie wrote in the report. Even as the U.S. currency advanced and gold fell on the European crisis in recent months, "it is too early for the dollar to reclaim this status," they wrote.

"The case for higher gold prices remains in place," the analysts wrote. "U.S. economic and employment data has now disappointed for several weeks, European election results point to further stress in the euro area, while anecdotal data suggests that physical gold demand remains resilient."